[EGW editor’s note, November 5, 2016:  This article is a essay coming from Jim Mettenbrink’s book, How to Study the Bible, which he is currently revising & expanding for the Russian reading world (Jim was a missionary to Russia for several years before moving to Brookings, SD).  This essay is presented here by the author’s permission.  For a printable PDF of the essay’s most recent edition, or to order a printed copy of Jim's book, or for more information about Jim’s Russian-publishing works, please contact Jim.]

     This purpose of this essay is to provide you with a general understanding of the Holy Spirit, His personhood, the unique work in the New Testament period and His work today.  The Holy Spirit is not a mystical force, a unique form of energy or a ghost as many people believe.  The Bible reveals He is a person.  The Holy Spirit is referred to as the third person in the Godhead (Matthew 28:19).  He is equal to the Father and Jesus, but His work is different.  The Holy Spirit does not work in miraculous ways in our lives.  His work is in complete harmony with the Father, Jesus, and the Bible.

     The Person of the Holy Spirit

     Several passages show us that He is a person of intellect and purpose and not a mere force of God.  He speaks (1 Timothy 4:12); testifies of Jesus (John 15:26); teaches (John 14:26); guides (John 16:13); directs evangelism (Acts 16:6-7); searches (1 Corinthians 2:10).  These actions are those of a person, not of a mindless energy or force.
     The Bible reveals that the Holy Spirit has personal characteristics.  He has a mind (Romans 8:27); he knows (1 Corinthians 2:11); he loves (Rom 15:30); he has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11); he is good (Nehemiah 9:20); he experiences sorrow (Ephesians 4:30).
     The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit has traits revealing that He is not just a special person but that He is God.  The Holy Spirit is eternal (Hebrews 9:14), omniscient (knows everything) (1 Corinthians 2:10,11), all powerful (omnipotent) (Micah 3:8) and is present everywhere at once (omnipresent) (Psalms 139:7).

     Work of the Holy Spirit

     The Holy Spirit has been involved in the affairs of man from the beginning.  He was active in the creation as was the Father and the Christ (Genesis 1:2-3).  He is involved in the conversion of people to Christianity (John 3:5).  He was the agent in Jesus’ resurrection and will be responsible for raising faithful Christians from the dead in the day of judgment (Romans 8:11).
     Although sometimes the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit seem to overlap, there are distinctions that show each person in the Godhead have specific works of His own.  In the creation, and in our redemption, the Father was the planner (Ephesians 3:8-12).  Jesus was the executive or the one who put the plans into motion (John 1:1-3; Ephesians 1:3-14).  The Holy Spirit is the craftsman or finisher.  He finished and beautified the creation (Job 26:13; 33:4).  The Holy Spirit revealed the way of salvation to mankind (Acts 2; Ephesians 3:1-7).
     Whereas the Old Testament focuses on God the Father and the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) give attention to the redemptive work of Jesus, the remaining books of the New Testament reveal the role of the Holy Spirit in our salvation.  The Book of Acts especially focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit in the beginning and development of the early Church of Christ.
     On the night before His death Jesus told His disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to help them remember His teachings (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15).  The coming of the Holy Spirit occurred on the day of Pentecost when He descended upon the apostles (Acts 2:1-4), ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven.  As a result of this, the apostles not only had a miraculous knowledge from Jesus through the Holy Spirit, but they could once again perform miracles and raise the dead (Acts 3:1-10; 9:36-41).  The Holy Spirit was evident in the propagation of Christianity in the first century.  The work of the Holy Spirit was not only through the apostles.  He also works in individual Christians.  Because He is the finisher in the work of God, the Holy Spirit not only brought the gospel through the apostles, but He is involved in the sanctification of Christians to help them mature into the likeness of Jesus.

     Gifts of the Holy Spirit

     When Paul had gone to Ephesus he encountered some people who had been baptized in John’s baptism, but they had not received the Holy Spirit.  Paul baptized them for the remission of sins, then he laid hands on them & they received the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Then they could speak in foreign languages (Acts 19:1-6).  The gifts of the Holy Spirit were the divine power that was given to a new Christian by the apostles.  When Philip (an evangelist, but not an apostle) was preaching and performing miracles in Samaria, many became Christians (Acts 8:5-8).  However when the apostles were informed they went to Samaria and gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the new Christians (Acts 8:14-17).  Since Philip was not an apostle he could not give the gift of the Holy Spirit.  These gifts included healing people, speaking in an unknown language, prophecy (miraculous knowledge), interpretation and casting out demons (1 Corinthians 14:5).  The New Testament was not written yet so God revealed His will to the Christians through the gifts until the NT was completed.  The purpose of the gifts being miraculous was to confirm that what was being said was coming from God and not man (Mark 16:17-20; Acts 2:43; Hebrews 2:2-4).  When the New Testament was completed these gifts ceased (1 Corinthians 13:9-10).  There would no longer be a need for the gifts once God’s revelation to us was completed.  Since only the apostles could pass the gifts of the spirit to others, when they died that ability certainly ceased at that time.
     Those who claim to have miraculous gifts of any sort do not understand the teaching of the New Testament nor the purpose of the spiritual gifts.  It is certain that whatever those people experience is not from God.  They not only are deceived, but they are deceivers.

     Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

     Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would dwell in His disciples (John 14:16-17).  The apostle wrote that Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14).  The Spirit dwells in us (1Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:10; 2 Timothy 1:14).  We also know Jesus dwells in us (1 John 4:12-16).  When Peter gave his sermon on Pentecost, he told the people to “repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is received in baptism.  You can not feel His presence, but know He is present because the Bible tells us He dwells in us.  We know this by faith in God and His word, not by our senses.
     How the Spirit dwells in us has been a historic controversy which has resulted in several viewpoints.  The first is that he does not dwell at all in the Christian today.  The second view is that the Spirit dwelled personally during the period of the spiritual gifts, but does not dwell in Christians since the time that the gifts ceased after the New Testament was completely revealed.  The third is He dwells in a miraculous way causing the speaking of tongues and miracles such as is asserted by Pentecostalism.  The fourth is He dwells in a way that prevents a Christian from falling away.  This is the “once saved, always saved” doctrine of many of the denominations.  The fifth view is that the Holy Spirit personally dwells in Christians in a non-miraculous manner, but does not interfere with free moral agency nor does He give further revelation from God.  The last view is that He dwells in us representatively through the word of God.
     In the Church of Christ, the last two viewpoints are mostly widely believed.  The New Testament refers to the Spirit’s indwelling in a personal manner, rather than representatively.  Yet when the scriptures refer to actions of the Spirit they are also are referred to as actions through God’s word in other scriptures.  In turn this points to the Holy Spirit dwelling representatively in the Christian.  The following references are a comparison of the actions by the Holy Spirit and actions accomplished through the word of God.

Action of the Holy Spirit	Action through the Word of God
Creation    (Genesis 1:2; Job 3:34)	Creation through the Word    (Hebrews 1:3; 2 Peter 3:5)
Giver of life    (2 Corinthians 3:6)	Word gives life    (James 1:18)
Christians are born again    (John 3:8)	Christians born of the Word    (1 Peter 1:23-25)
Salvation    (Titus 3:5)	Salvation    (James 1:21)
Sanctification    (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13)	Word Sanctifies    (John 17:17)
Indwelling in Christians    (Romans 8:11)	Indwelling in Christians    (Colossians 3:16)
Spirit is truth    (1 John 5:7)	Word is truth    (John 17:17)
Power of the Spirit    (Romans 15:13)	Power in the Word    (Hebrews 1:3)

     Regardless of whether the Spirit’s indwelling is representative or personal, these passages not only show that the Holy Spirit works in our lives, but that He works in complete harmony with the Word of God.  The details of how the Spirit works in the activities surrounding our lives is unclear, but we certainly know He works through God’s word in our hearts (the center of our mental activities).  If you have not studied the Bible, the Spirit does not help you to fulfill God’s word in your life.  This points to the importance of diligent personal Bible study.  It is certain that the Holy Spirit does not lead us independently of God’s word.  If this were so, then the Bible would serve no purpose in the plan of salvation.
     Since we are free moral agents, we can be assured that the Holy Spirit does not force us to follow God against our own will.  Second, since God gave us His Bible as the guide by which to live so we can go to heaven, we can be assured the Holy Spirit will not do anything contrary to the New Testament.

     Baptism of the Holy Spirit

     John the baptizer said Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11).  The baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost to give them special powers (miracles, knowledge, etc) (Luke 24:48-49; Acts 2:1-4).  The Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to (1) teach the entire will of God (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4), (2) confirm by miracles that the word they spoke was from God (Mark 16:20; Acts 9:36-43), (3) speak foreign languages they did not know (Luke 21:14-15; Acts 2:1-4), (4) impart spiritual gifts to others (Acts 8:14-17; 19:1-7; Romans 1:11).  Only the apostles had the power to impart spiritual gifts to others.  Certainly this ability ceased when they died, if not when the New Testament was completely revealed (1 Corinthians 13:10).
     When the apostle Peter preached to Cornelius, the first gentile convert, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household in a visible manner (Acts 10:44-48).  In telling the other apostles of this event, it is obvious that the purpose of this Holy Spirit baptism was to show Peter that the gospel was not just for the Jews, but also the gentiles (Acts 11:16-18).  Cornelius and his family were not given the miraculous powers by the Holy Spirit that was given to the apostles on Pentecost.
     There are no other baptisms of the Holy Spirit.  Since we have the word of God today, there is no purpose for a miraculous visible baptism.  Those who claim to have experienced such either do not understand God’s word or have been deceived.